Materials and tools for creativity. The best felt craft ideas for Easter, New Year, May 9. Decorations, appliques, letters of the alphabet.
Crafts made of felt are bright soft souvenirs that can bring comfort to a nursery, become part of a didactic game, and decorate a child's clothes. The creation of funny figures activates fine motor skills, creativity of the baby, allows you to spend a pleasant evening with your family. But in order for the products to turn out beautiful and neat, let's figure out the intricacies of working with felt.
What are felt crafts?
In the photo, felt crafts
Felt is a material with an ancient history. Nomads used felt or felt as early as the Neolithic period. Felted wool was used to make yurts, carpets, clothes, and footwear. Gradually, technologies improved, the fabric became softer, more pliable, and bright.
Now designer coats, hats, jackets, scarves, bags are sewn from it. Craft stores sell felt sheets that are used to make jewelry and crafts.
What crafts can be made from felt:
- letters of the alphabet;
- bright applications;
- Easter eggs;
- Christmas decorations;
- Christmas wreaths.
Making crafts from felt activates the child's fine motor skills, develops attention and concentration on the object of needlework. During the creative process, children fix the name of the colors and shades, learn about the complex shapes of the figures (oval, cone, cylinder, etc.). Such a pastime reveals the creative potential of the baby, activates his imagination and memory.
Adults also enjoy making felt crafts with their own hands. After all, this material can be used to make wonderful jewelry, decor items, gifts to loved ones. Many needlewomen note pleasant relaxation, switching their attention to leisurely interesting work. And the satisfaction from the result obtained for a long time charges with vigor, positive, good mood.
Preparation of materials for crafts
Before you start making felt crafts for children and adults, you need to choose the type of material. So, it has a different composition, thickness and properties.
What are the types of felt:
- Woolen (100% wool) … Suitable for making jewelry for outerwear, winter shoes, bags. It is distinguished by its high density, pronounced hairiness, interesting "shaggy". The disadvantages include the tendency to crumple, the rapid appearance of pellets.
- Wool blend (50% wool). Such felt is used to create small jewelry, details of large souvenirs. The material has an even, smooth texture and a wide range of colors. However, its pronounced softness does not allow it to be used for making toys or decorative items of a large size.
- Acrylic (100% acrylic) … Ideal for making appliques and children's crafts, as it has a characteristic shine and rich colors. It is easy to clean, does not fade, does not change shape. The disadvantage is the feeling of stickiness and artificiality of the material.
- Viscose (100% viscose) … It is actively used for making crafts due to its strength, smoothness, and shape retention after cleaning. The advantages of the material also include the softness and silkiness of the resulting products.
- Polyester (100% polyester) … Suitable for sewing toys or products that are actively used in everyday life. Excellent durability, high strength and shape retention after washings make it possible to make souvenirs of varying complexity.
To make beautiful felt crafts, you need to use quality tools. The material should be cut the first time without crushing, delamination, or tearing. Choose an adhesive that does not leave a greasy residue and a filler that gives an even volume to the toy.
Use the following tools to make felt crafts for adults and children:
- Scissors … For this type of creativity, you must have 2 types of scissors. A tool with straight blades is needed to cut stripes, squares, rectangles. Models with small curved tips help cut small, rounded parts. Curly scissors allow you to separate a piece of material with edges in the form of a wave or zigzag.
- Needle … Beautiful felt crafts are obtained by carefully stitching parts together. To do this, you must have a needle with a sharp end. Moreover, for machine sewing, use a tool for thick fabrics. And for manual work - a needle with a narrow but long eye so that the child can independently complete the entire process of creating the product.
- Thread … Flat and bulky felt crafts are often sewn over the edge. And with the help of a thread, you can additionally decorate the product, focus on the color and shape of the part. Therefore, when making souvenirs, it is necessary to use bright and durable material. Both floss yarns and polyester yarns in several folds are suitable.
- Marker … You can use a self-disappearing marker to draw a felt craft template. It is clearly visible when drawing lines and easily disappears after spraying with a spray bottle. Pieces of chalk or thin remnants do an excellent job with their function. For the creativity of young children, the use of a felt-tip pen or a gel pen is permissible.
- Glue … Lightweight felt items can be joined using glue. To do this, it is better to use a pistol with a durable filler. The tool is capable of applying a small amount of adhesive to the bonding point of the parts. PVA glue is suitable for making the applique. It is affordable, does not release harmful vapors, does not irritate the skin of the hands.
- Filler … To add volume to felt toys, you need to use filler. In shops for creativity, holofiber, synthetic winterizer, synthetic winterizer are sold. These materials are able to evenly fill the interior space, make the product soft and pleasant to the touch. Please note that after washing, the cotton wool gets knocked into lumps, and scraps of fabric can shed and ruin the souvenir.
In addition, pins, a ruler, compasses, or utensils (for drawing a circle) may be needed to make felt crafts. Use buttons, beads, rain, natural materials for decoration.
The best felt craft ideas
In order for the products to turn out beautiful and neat, you need to carefully prepare for the creative process. Take care of the lighting, prepare all the necessary materials and tools. Think of what you want to do, watch a master class on making similar crafts. Here are the best ideas for felt crafts.
Crafts from felt for Easter
The most common Easter felt crafts are colorful eggs. To make them, you need an oval-shaped template, felt, threads, material for decoration.
How to make a felt egg craft:
- Cut an oval-shaped template out of the cardboard.
- Circle it on sheets of felt of different colors.
- Cut out an even amount of detail.
- Decorate each one.
- Sew at 2 overlock seams, leaving a small distance.
- Insert the filler into the pocket.
- Sew the products to the end.
You can use different materials to decorate Easter eggs. The lace ribbon sewn around the wide part of the egg looks beautiful, a composition of beads and rhinestones, hand embroidery. The imitation of a broken shell looks unusual, from which a chicken or the head of an Easter bunny peeps out.
An egg basket is also a great option for making felt for Easter. To make it, take a small box and glue it on all sides with material. For a spring-fresh look, use green felt. Cut it out in the shape of grass (narrow, long triangles) and glue them slightly over the top edge.
In the final step, make a yellow fence. To do this, glue a transverse strip on all sides of the basket and a few short pointed pegs. Glue buds of pink flowers on some tops of the blades of grass. When the basket is dry, place the felt Easter eggs in it.
Crafts from felt for the New Year
Making New Year's crafts from felt is a great way to spend time with your family, to feel the atmosphere of celebration and magic. For a Christmas tree, prepare cardboard, paints, green felt, glue gun, ornaments.
How to make a felt Christmas tree craft for the New Year:
- Fold the cardboard in a cone shape.
- Paint it green.
- Cut out matching triangles out of green felt.
- When the paint is dry, stick them from the bottom up on the wide side.
- The result is a tree with triangular legs.
- Decorate it with small Christmas tree decorations, beads, rain.
Felt makes beautiful Christmas tree decorations. To make them, prepare cardboard for templates, multi-colored felt, thread, needle, filler, ornaments.
Draw simple patterns - balls, triangles, gingerbread man shapes. Transfer them to felt, cut out. Brighten up the details by adding as many bright shiny elements as possible. Attach identical figures seamy side to each other, secure with pins, sew over the edges. Before finishing the work, fill the inner part with padding polyester, sew to the end.
Crafts from felt for May 9
Red carnations are the symbol of Victory Day. It is these flowers that are most suitable for felt crafts by May 9. To make them, prepare curly scissors, red and green material, cardboard for templates, paper clips (for money clips), a glue gun.
How to make a felt carnation craft:
- Transfer the pattern of a circle with a diameter of 7 cm to red felt.
- Cut out some circles with curly scissors.
- Fold them in triangles.
- Pinch with paper clips, leave overnight.
- Remove the staples the next day.
- The felt should keep its shape.
- Sew several pieces together to make a voluminous carnation.
- Cut the leaves out of green felt.
- Glue them to the base of the bud.
- Make a small stem out of green cardboard.
- Glue a pin, attach to clothing or bag.
On May 9, you can make a craft in the shape of a star. To do this, cut out 2 red five-pointed stars and 1 smaller yellow one. Embroider or write May 9 on the little star. Then glue it to the red one. Sew together 2 parts of the product, leaving room for filling with padding polyester. You can glue tapes to the bottom of the craft.
Felt appliques
Children of all ages love to make appliques. Toddlers love this activity because of the quick appearance of the result. Teenagers are interested in combining colors, adding new details, making a picture original, not like a sample.
To make a hedgehog applique, prepare a cardboard base, colored paper, several different sheets of felt, glue, and materials for decoration.
How to make a felt hedgehog craft step by step:
- Paste colored background paper (such as pink) onto the cardboard.
- Place the hedgehog template on a piece of brown felt.
- Cut out the part.
- Cut out the lighter shade of the muzzle separately.
- Highlight the eyes and nose on it (with buttons, beads or small pieces of felt).
- Glue the muzzle to the body.
- Cut apples, leaves, mushrooms, acorns from different pieces of felt.
- Stick them on the area of the hedgehog's needles.
- Glue the finished hedgehog onto the cardboard.
You can draw patterns for felt crafts yourself. Make sure the images are clear and recognizable. When working with young children, use natural colors: red apple, yellow pear, green leaf.
Teenagers can make all the figures of the applique three-dimensional. To do this, you need to cut out 2 parts of each item, sew together, fill with padding polyester.
Felt jewelry
Felt can be used to make beautiful jewelry for a hoop, bag, phone case, coat, shoes. Particularly popular are voluminous flowers, in the center of which there is a beautiful button, bead or pebble.
It is not difficult to make a craft in the form of felt flowers. Cut 4 flower patterns out of 6 petals. Moreover, each part should be slightly smaller than the previous one. Make the largest part a dark green color, and the other 3 - the same color (for example, beige).
Sew a vein along each petal with a herringbone stitch. Connect all the parts so that the upper petals do not cover the lower ones. Sew a button, bead, or other decoration into the center. Attach a pin or Velcro to the back.
For girls, you can make a hair tie in the form of a funny figurine. To make it, you will need felt of different colors, buttons or beads.
How to make a simple felt decoration craft:
- Cut out two identical pieces to form the animal's face.
- On one of them, mark the eyes, nose, mouth, mustache.
- Decorate the front with a bow or rhinestones.
- Sew the front and back.
- Fill the craft with synthetic fluff.
- Sew the figurine to the hair tie.
Together with the boys, you can also make crafts-decorations in the form of an airplane, a dinosaur, or a lion. Subsequently, they will be happy to wear them on a jacket or backpack.
Felt letters
Volumetric letters refer to felt crafts for beginner craftswomen. To make them, you need cardboard for templates, sheets of the main material of different colors, threads, a needle, material for jewelry.
How to make felt crafts step by step:
- Cut out the letter pattern.
- Transfer the pattern of each letter 2 times to the felt.
- Cut out the letters.
- Decorate them on one side.
- Sew the parts together.
- Fill the inside with padding polyester.
You can come up with schemes for crafts made of felt in the form of letters on your own. These can be strict clear lines or funny blurry blots. If letters are needed for teaching literacy, choose the most proportional parts of the same style. To compose a name in the child's room, you can make original products and decorate them with flowers, stars, leaves.
How to make a felt craft - watch the video:
Making felt crafts is not only a pleasant pastime, but also the creation of original souvenirs. They enhance the feeling of comfort, decorate clothes and accessories, and act as part of educational games. And the creative process itself allows you to get to know the child better, to develop his fine motor skills, imagination, the ability to concentrate on business, to bring it to the end.
